“The Shadows of the Past”(Third Trial,Harder, Darker,Deeper)

Time Skip: Eight Months After the Second Trial

Time had changed us.

Our movements were more precise. Our minds sharper. Our bodies stronger.

But with each trial, it became clearer: Isaac was not just preparing us for battle.

He wanted us to understand.

Because a hunter who only struck but did not comprehend was nothing more than a murderer with a blade.

Tonight, he would show us this in the most brutal way.

Gabriel

Isaac stood with his back to us, his long coat shifting slightly in the cold wind.

Before us lay an old ruin—a crumbling chapel.

"You have learned to survive in the darkness," he said. "Now you will learn what it means to face your own shadows."

Michael eyed him suspiciously. "Shadows?"

Isaac gave a barely noticeable nod.

"Your trial begins inside."

Raphael smirked slightly. "You enjoy keeping us in the dark, don't you?"

Isaac met his gaze with a hint of… nostalgia?

"Some lessons must be lived."

I looked at my brothers.

Then we stepped inside.

And the shadows closed around us.

Michael

The chapel felt larger than it looked from the outside.

Half-collapsed stone benches, ruined wall paintings. The altar was buried under dust and time.

Something was off. Not the place itself—but the air inside. Heavy. Expectant.

Then I felt it.

A sudden, invisible pull.

I turned around—Gabriel and Raphael were gone.

Damn it.

Isaac had separated us. Again.

Raphael

I blinked.

Just a moment ago, I had been in the chapel.

Now I stood in a narrow alley.

The walls were wet from rain. Fog crept over the ground.

I immediately knew it was a deception.

But my body still reacted. As if to real danger.

In front of me lay a figure.

Motionless.

As I stepped closer, my breath caught.

I knew that face.

But that was impossible.

Gabriel

I knew it was an illusion.

But that didn't change the fact that she stood before me.

Rosalind Cavendish.

I knew her name from old records. And from the rare, unintentional moments when Isaac spoke of her.

The woman he could not save.

The woman who died because of him.

"You're not real," I said quietly.

She smiled.

"But your doubt is."

My hand twitched instinctively toward the hilt of my sword.

If this was Isaac's past…

Then we had to free him from it.

Michael

The man before me was emaciated, his skin marked by scars.

But his eyes…

They were like Isaac's.

"I was his teacher," the man said.

My heart beat faster.

"What…?"

He stepped closer, slowly, like a shadow merging with the darkness.

"Before he became what he is today… he was a student. Just like you."

I felt my fingers tense.

"What are you trying to tell me?"

The man studied me for a long moment.

"You will save him. Or you will become like him."

Raphael

My opponent was myself.

Or what I could become.

A dark reflection.

"You think you're strong," he—I—said.

"You believe you can survive because you fight."

I narrowed my eyes. "What is this? Isaac's lesson?"

The shadow laughed.

"Isaac already learned that fighting alone is not enough. You haven't."

I gripped my lance tighter.

"Then teach me."

The shadow drew his own.

"With pleasure."

Gabriel

Rosalind attacked.

I dodged, but she was faster.

Not a normal opponent.

Not human.

"You hesitate." Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

I said nothing.

"Isaac was afraid, too. And that's why he let me die."

I took a deep breath.

"He didn't fail. You would have died either way."

"And yet, it haunts him."

I felt my body tense.

This trial was more than just a test.

It was a glimpse into Isaac's past.

Michael

"Isaac had a choice," said the old man.

"Between his own survival and that of his friends."

I felt my stomach tighten.

"He sacrificed them all?"

The man shook his head.

"No. But he survived. And that was punishment enough."

I swallowed.

"That's the trial, isn't it? To understand that sometimes… the worst battle is the one you win."

The man nodded.

Then he dissolved into shadows.

All Three Brothers

The illusions disappeared at the same time.

We stood once again in the chapel.

Isaac was waiting.

He studied us, searching our faces for answers.

"What did you learn?" he finally asked.

Gabriel took a deep breath.

"That you lost more than you tell us."

Michael clenched his fists.

"That sometimes victory is the greatest punishment."

Raphael looked directly into Isaac's eyes.

"That we fear ourselves more than the monsters out there."

Isaac took his time examining us.

Then he said only one word:

"Good."

And he left the chapel.